I really don't see this as that big of an issue. There are free wallet services available. This wallet has great features. If the features are not worth the price to you, use a different service. That's why competition is good, it gives you the choice of features and prices you are comfortable with. I would pay a monthly fee for no ads. And I do like the tiered/capped structure offered.

Losing hundreds of Bitcoins with the best scammers in the business - BFL, Avalon, KNC, HashFast.

The problem with having fees for only large transactions is as I have no control over people's private keys they can just sign them using some other method. if the fee for transaction is 1 cent but it takes ten minutes to export your keys and sign tow transaction using some other method then your probably not going to bother, but if the fee is $10 then it is worth the extra time.

Another proposal:

Fees are optionally selected with a checkbox on the send transaction form. Making a certain number of paid transactions unlocks features in the interface. For example:

1 paid transaction per month enables live updating via web sockets.

2 paid transactions per month increases max number of addresses to 1000

I tend to favour a variant of the last suggested. Basic service, free. More features, pay.But you wouldn't want to base it on transaction count as it's easy for someone to push a bunch of low value trx. just to get the features enabled.

Maybe indicate an optional fee as editable value. Then have a link to a menu of monthly fee vs. features. Users can choose to pay more or less but features are enabled according to past contributions (maybe over some window period). Maybe counted as credits instead of btc so you can revalue them easily.

I would have thought that google ads (text only) would have been a low-key more profitable revenue stream though. I've used that and at first it's peanuts but when you have thousands/millions of regular visitors it is huge. Look at PlentyofFish.com making $1 million/month with 2 million users (few years back now). You have the potential here that when Bitcoin really catches on, and you have situated yourself as the dominant wallet player due to exposure and feature set, you may end up with millions of regulars. You wouldn't want to lose the dominant position because users went elsewhere due to no fees.

I think also you could take a lesson from the Paypal play book. They don't charge to send money, only to receive it - because businesses see value in being able to receive more money but buyers are turned off by fees. Same goes for credit cards.

There are probably lots of creative value added features that could be charged for. Some you mention but also maybe escrow or advanced management, merchant services, reporting etc.

I just don't think you should want to do ANYTHING to suppress testing and growth at this early stage of your project. What you are essentially saying is "please do not test transactions unless you are sending real money" and so I have not.

The site has nearly 1000 wallets now and barring one severe bug there having been few issues reported. I'm not saying it doesn't need more testing but the site is production ready now.

I don't think it's testing for you. It's new users testing your site for themselves to understand how it works and gain trust. I know for me it takes time to gain faith that this is workable for me. Even though I know you're not offering the same technology as MyBitcoin.com (whose name is already fading into bitdust) each new user has to trust the site, test it, see how well it works for them and then hopefully tell all their friends.

There is still an element of trust here as it's possible that one day JS code gets swapped and the user doesn't know. It's also possible to be the target of fake sites or CSS or MITM attacks.

I can't load Blockchain.info website today. it is turning in browser but I don't get website.

debit cards websites are companies registered in London by Lithuanians who demand from you your phone, ID and utility bill, that's enough for them to make offshore companies on your name without your knowledge and they can get a bank account and make financial crimes on your name, or they can simply sell IDs. don't give to anyone too much info. why they need more than your ID when your local bank demands only ID?don't use coinbase, they are NSA spying shit, they make database of people that use bitcoins.